The present invention relates generally to interoperability systems.
Communications interoperability systems allow disparate systems to be substantially connected, as for example such that two-way radios or push-to-talk (PTT) radios associated with different systems may communicate with each other. Some communications interoperability systems are configured to effectively leverage multicast networks in order to support the routing of media streams between endpoints which are participants in virtual talk groups (VTGs). Typically, such media streams are routed using multicast routing schemes, although media streams may be routed using unicast routing schemes in the absence of the availability of multicast routing.
A VTG generally carries a mix of multicast and unicast traffic, and may be associated with a unique multicast address. Alternatively, a single, overall VTG may include multiple participating talk groups that are supported by unique multicast addresses. When there are multiple unique multicast addresses associated with talk groups, media may be streamed, restreamed, switched, and bridged between the multiple multicast addresses.
VTGs may sometimes be compromised by intentional or unintentional rogue behavior. By way of example, a rogue endpoint may exhibit rogue behavior by launching a denial of service (DOS) attack on a VTG multicast group and, therefore, prevent legitimate endpoints from being able to send and receive traffic within the VTG multicast group. A rogue endpoint may launch a DOS attack on the VTG multicast group by sending a relatively large number of data and/or media streams on the VTG multicast group. Such a DOS attack may effectively render it impossible for media to be comprehended by receiving endpoints or streamed, restreamed, switched, and bridged between multiple multicast addresses associated with the VTG multicast group.